HC declines to stay 7.5% MBBS quota for govt school students

HC declines to stay 7.5% MBBS quota for govt school students

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:  06.01.2021

The Madras high court has refused to stay the ongoing admission to medical courses under the 7.5% reservation provided for students from government schools saying it would be against public interest and lead to chaos.

However, the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy assured that the court would give a detailed hearing on the pleas challenging the reservation and give a quietus to the issue as soon as possible.

The issue pertains to a batch of pleas moved by students who said their opportunity to secure admission to medical courses was adversely affected by the introduction of 7.5% reservation for government school students in the state.

Tamil Nadu already has 69% communal reservation for admission to government educational institutions, though it is above the 50% upper limit set by the Supreme Court, the petitioners said.

“While the petitioner took NEET 2021 they were aware of these circumstances. But the same has been compounded after the exam by setting aside 7.5% seats on preferential basis for students who have studied in government schools,” advocate B N Suchindran, representing a petitioner, said.

It is pertinent to note that a similar GO providing reservation for state board students was struck down by this court in 2017, he added.

Further, noting that reservation per Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution can be provided only for socially educationally backward classes, he said, the present classification does not fall under the category.

He added, the provision for further 7.5% reservation to government school students above and beyond the existing scheme of reservations is unreasonable and arbitrary.

“The reservation goes against the legitimate expectation of many students who have taken the NEET exam in the current academic year, many of whom will become ineligible only by virtue of this ex post facto reservation,” the petitioners said.

Opposing the pleas, advocate-general Vijay Narayan submitted that the reservation was introduced based on the recommendations of Justice Kalaiyarasan committee.

Recording the same, the bench directed the state to disclose the report of the committee and file a detailed counter.